MA Led by Redsnapper/Outhouse saxophonist, Tom Challenger, MA features fellow Loop collective collaborator, drummer Dave Smith, organist Ross Stanley as well as long term friend and collaborator Matt Calvert on electronics. Within a setting of dubby beats and drones, MA utilise deceptively simple themes as a launch pad for music that is hugely atmospheric but full of powerful improvisation and unexpected textures. Tonight MA will launch their CD 'The Last'.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Just to announce that the new Ma Album - 'The Last' is available from either www.tomchallenger.co.uk or www.loopcollective.org It's been a long time coming but thankfully - now it's ready for release (which is incidentally in June - it's available early here!).

Monday, January 17, 2011

The Loop Collective is delighted to present the third edition of its yearly festival, in an exciting new London venue with a packed-out program of new projects, special guests and friends.

Taking place for the first time at The Forge in Camden, the festival will include an evening dedicated to the European Jazz-collective-gathering: “ZOOM!”, the launch of three new records by Loop artists and the long-awaited Loop compilation as well as a movie projection and special outings of Loop bands performing new music written for the occasion.

The Loop Festival gratefully acknowledges the support of PRS Foundation, Arts Council England, The French Bureau Export and BBC radio 3.

Michael Buckley - tenor sax
Ivo Neame - piano
Mick Coady - bass
Sean Carpio - drums Although generally regarded as tightly rooted in the jazz tradition, Mick Coady's original work reveals another side of his musical character, one that draws its inspiration from a wide diversity of influences. The rich harmony and angular melodies prominent in his compositions are a result of his long immersion in the jazz idiom but the epic song forms and intense grooves that underlie many of his pieces are evidence of an earlier exposure to rock and folk, and many other musics besides. Coady's performance at this 3rd annual Loop festival will be the first outing for a number of tunes currently in the works. It is also a prelude to his first recording as a leader (set for May), the result of a recent award granted to him under the Music Network Recording Scheme. 9.30pm JEANNE ADDED solo

Jeanne Added - voice / bass guitar "Jeanne Added is always fascinating by her way of combining a laid back, almost detached attitude and maximal intensity, with a vocal technique which seems not wanting to show, between murmure, plain notes and words. a capella or with her bass, she sings her own songs as well as some of Prince, Purcell or Schubert." franck bergerot, jazz magazine.

"With her we go through telluric and lyrical feelings, as we would in the company of a griot." mathieu malgrange, atelier du plateau, paris.10.30pm MA special

Expect to hear Ma's customary and highly individual improv-meets-dub-meets-electronica sound world, alongside percussive sounds that will be performed using the venue and space as key components to the overall musical result.

--------------------------------Thursday 17 March:ZOOM night.

7pm Presentation of the new Loop Compilation and the three albums launched at the Loop festival. 8.30pm Kindergarten (Yolk Collective)

Matthieu Donarier - clarinets & saxophones
Poline Renou - singer, keyboards player and composer Kindergarten is a...children's garden as the world is.
Kindergarten results from the encounter of two musicians coming from very different musical worlds, its repertoire mixes with original compositions, revisited ancient and contemporary musics, improvised pieces, litterature reading and a touch of electronics... Together, Matthieu Donarier and Poline Renou have decided to build a peculiar, fragile and polymorphic musical universe, which dares silence and bareness, mixing written and instantaneous poetry, harmonic murmurs and rhythmic fury.
Microdiffusion, acoustic concerts taking place inside the audience and respect for silence are part of this flexible group concept, around which others musicians, dancers and writers will come along in future creations.Kindergarten's first album was released in April 2008 on Yolk Records.

9.30pm Arthurs.Høiby.Richie (F-ire Collective)

Tom Arthurs - trumpet
Jasper Høiby - bass
Stuart Richie - drums'This threesome has deserved all the praise it's received this year. They are due for a lot more' John Fordham, The Guardian

'what a great trio... their session was a corker!' Jez Nelson, BBC Radio 3, Jazz on 3

Wide-open, intensely rhythmic original compositions inspired by twisted dance-musics, concentrated yet intimate improv, various complexities of the [post-]modern world and avant-garde baking techniques...

High-energy, highly interactive and fresh every time, Arthurs.Høiby.Ritchie are a trio with unlimited potential for invention and for the unexpected; manipulating and extending material through detailed improvisations, and with an individual take on the great composition/improvisation debate. Playing music by Arthurs, Jasper Høiby and Stuart Ritchie complete a trio of personalities drawing on a wealth of influences and experiences.
A.H.R have performed at the Wigmore Hall, Cheltenham International Jazz Festival, the London Jazz Festival, Moving on Music (Belfast) and Manchester Jazz Festivals, as well as in France, Austria, Switzerland and Germany. In 2007 they performed specially commissioned music by leading SPNM composers at the Purcell Rooms. The composers were Ailis Ni Riain, Adam Melvin and Richard Glover.
AHR have recently returned from a collaboration with the Geneva Downtown Orchestra, featuring a suite of music commissioned by the GTDO, and in 2010, worked on a special project with the renowned Elysian (string) Quartet.

Their debut record, Explications,was released to much acclaim on Not Applicable records in 2008.

Their performance at this year's Loop Festival will include a specially written piece with an extended version of Fringe Magnetic. This performance will feature Jim Hart on vibraphone and Alex Bonney on trumpet.

Alcyona Mick - piano
Geoff Hannan - violin
Jon Wygens - guitar Earlier in 2010 Alcyona Mick was commissioned by 7 Inch Cinema and supported by the Arts Council to compose a new score for one of cinema's historical silent films, 'Sunrise'. It was then performed live at the Flatpack Film Festival 2010.

Featuring Alcyona on piano, together with violinist Geoff Hannan and guitarist Jon Wygens who are both composers in their own right, the music has a strong improvisatory element alongside the written contemporary score.

9.30pm Risser / Duboc / Perraud trio (France)

Eve Risser - piano
Benjamin Duboc - bass
Edward Perraud - drums Although a very recent band, its members Benjamin Duboc and Edward Perraud have been playing together for years in ETAU (out on creative sources) and THE FISH with Jean-Luc Guionnet (out on ayler records...). On several occasions Eve Risser and Benjamin Duboc found themselves playing together on various Parisian stages.
Soon, it becomes obvious that there is a common will between the three artists which leads them to start a trio around powerful music, at once organic and forceful. At the crossroad between free music and a wide range of other musical influences, their work focuses on the elasticity of the time.
Risser, Duboc and Perraud share an understanding of rhythm and harmony so close to telepathy that they could call their band ‘Evidence’ (Obviousness).

10.30pm Andrew Plummer’s World Sanguine Report
Andrew Plummer - voice; Alex Bonney - trumpet; James Allsopp - reeds; Chris Sharkey - guitar; Matt Bourne - keyboards; Dave Kane - bass; Tom Greenhalgh - drumsPart demonic vaudeville, part psychotic big band, vocalist Andrew Plummer revels and writhes in the macabre as he heads his jazz noir project World Sanguine Report through visceral tales from the dark side of life, love and death. Propelled by demented carny rhythms, Plummer's bruised, gruff vocals and darkly-enthralling lyrics are enveloped in a tide of swirling tones and textures, with the constant threat of breaking into waves of cacophony. Featuring musicians of national and international renown, tonight World Sanguine Report will be serving up choice cuts from Plummer's first three albums.

'Moving between threatening intimacy and deranged demagoguery, rasping and roaring desperation before cutting off with a terrifying fixed smile, (W.S.R.) are fabulous, refreshing and uncategorisable music and excellent theatre.' The Venue

'The honey-and-razor-blades voiced singer/composer: Andrew Plummer's World Sanguine Report are a multi-headed beast of a band, boasting some of the freshest new talent on the UK scene. They all join together on Plummer's heartrending wonky pieces, that sound part New Orleans brass band part Mr Bungle to spellbinding tragic-comic effect.' Jazzwise

9pm Mark Hanslip/Javier Carmona Duo (Album Launch)
Mark Hanslip - tenor sax
Javier Carmona - drums The duo of saxophonist Mark Hanslip and drummer/percussionist Javier Carmona will be playing music from their forthcoming album out on the Babel label in early 2011. Almost entirely improvised, their music is notable for extreme contrast between minimalist, ambient sounds (and silence) and dense, furious free-jazz, startling and sudden changes of direction and oddball musicianship. 'Startling.... highly intuitive.' (TimeOut London)

Ivo Neame - piano & saxophone
Jim Hart - vibraphone & drums
+ Oren Marshall - tuba, Rory Simmons - trumpet Multi-instrumentalists Jim Hart and Ivo Neame have been playing together since the beginning of the century. Both founder members of the Loop collective and members of each other’s bands, (The Ivo Neame Quartet and Jim Hart's Gemini) they have developed a superb empathy for one another's playing – 'as if they are finishing each other's sentences'. Their music is often rhythmically charged whilst being very fluid and open.

Duo Plus crept in to being after Ivo and Jim were asked on several occasions to play as a duo and began exploring the different textures that piano and saxophone (Ivo) with drums and vibraphone (Jim) could create. By chance Rory Simmons (trumpet) was at one of these gigs and he sat in. Duo Plus was born. Rory will feature again for the Loop festival and the duo will also be joined by tuba virtuoso Oren Marshall.

This dynamic ensemble of young musicians features the highly acclaimed musicians Brigitte Beraha (Paul Clarvis/Chris Laurence, Kenny Wheeler, Henry Lowther, L.J.O.), Ivo Neame (Cinematic Orchestra, Fringe Magnetic, Phronesis), Tomas Challenger (Outhouse/Red Snapper), and Tim Giles (Iain Ballamy/Stan Sulzmann/Kenny Wheeler/Art Farmer). The starting point for the music is collective improvisation but compositionally it draws on as wide a range of styles as possible. Folk, electronic music and contemporary classical influences are added to the mix with complex jazz harmonies and rhythms. Different and contrasting strands are layered up on top of one another to create tension. Often the music has been rewritten many times after rehearsals sent the music spinning off in a different and exciting direction. Most of the material is through-composed with the theme re-emerging in a different form, key, or time signature. The most important thing for us is to develop a band sound and understanding so each time we play the music can be re-invented collectively, often quite radically. Several new compositions feature fantastic lyrics from Brigitte Bereha and on other tracks she sings wordless vocals, often harmonizing with the sax line to great effect. A new album and tour is planned for 2011.
"Creative contemporary jazz composition with its freedom of improvised expression is in safe hands in my opinion having just heard this album. These musicians are equally matched and share a lucidity and flow within their music that subtly but powerfully demonstrates their individual and collective excellence!" Iain Ballamy

JON IRABAGON
J

on Irabagon, winner of the 2008 Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition, has performed extensively as both a sideman and as a leader in an ever-expanding range of projects, from the most straight ahead to the most searching. Jon has studied under such divergent artists as Dave Liebman, Wynton Marsalis, Dick Oatts, Jason Moran and Victor Goines, and has performed and/or recorded with musical luminaries such as Billy Joel, Wynton Marsalis, Bright Eyes, Tom Harrell, Tommy Iago, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Deborah Gibson, John Abercrombie, Frank Wess, Wycliffe Gordon, Renee Fleming, Kenny Washington, Lou Reed, Jenny Lewis, Ron Sexsmith, and Ken Vandermark. Jon has performed and done clinics and workshops in the United States, Canada, Europe, Macau, Taiwan, Costa Rica, and Japan, and performs regularly in New York City’s top venues such as Birdland, the Jazz Standard, 55 Bar, the Jazz Gallery, Zebulon, Barbes, Sweet Rhythm, and Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola.
Jon’s conception of complete musical inclusion in his improvisation and composition is apparent in the wide-ranging body of work he has compiled in his young career: his quintet Outright! (Innova) that embraces the complete history of jazz while wrapping it up in group improvisation, his continuous additive duo project with drummer Mike Pride “I Don’t Hear Nothin’ But the Blues” (Loyal Label), his unapologetic 80s cover band, his Sonny Rollins Tribute Trio, the straight-ahead modern jazz group Confluence (For the Artist Records) that he co-leads with fellow Manhattan School of Music graduates, the freely-improvising RIDD Quartet (Clean Feed), as well as his long-time tenure in the self-destructing bebop cyborg terrorist band Mostly Other People do the Killing (Hot Cup).
Jon has been signed to Concord Records and has a CD of original music and jazz standards coming out in the fall of 2009.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Friday 25 | 8.30pm | £10 | Loop Double BIll
Dog Soup
Led by trumpeter Robbie Robson, with John Turville and Hans Koller (keyboards), Johnny Brierley (bass) and Tim Giles (drums), the band use a number of electronic effects to create different textures and colours.

Samplers and loops create a swirling bed of music over which to improvise, blurring the distinctions between gritty, dark grooves, electronic sounds, loops and samples and free group improvisation.

For this Loop Collective residency, they're delighted to be joined for the first time by piano great Veryan Weston, perhaps best known for his long-standing relationships with both vocalist Phil Minton and saxophonist Trevor Watts.